Do You Promise?
by akpendley
Summary: It was supposed to be a fun extended weekend. May was supposed to take Ned & Peter to Washington D.C. for four days of museum tours, history lessons, & greasy fast food. But when a semi-truck crashes into the side of May's car - May & Ned are left fighting for their lives while Peter tries to come to terms with the possibility of life without his aunt & best friend.
1. Chapter 1

"Are you sure you don't want me to drive you guys down?" Happy asked for the fifth time since dropping Peter off from his weekend with Tony.

Peter was currently unpacking his stuff in his room, giving his Aunt some time alone with her boyfriend, and pretending not to be listening in on them.

"I'm sure. You may be Tony's driver but you're not mine Hap." May answered as she stirred the tomato sauce on the stovetop.

Spaghetti was the only dish May somehow never ruined.

"I never meant to imply that – "

"I know you didn't hon, relax. We'll be fine. It's just a few hours drive and then I'll call you when we're at the hotel. Now, are you going to stay for dinner?" May asked as she turned off the burner.

Peter took that as his cue to enter the kitchen where Happy was setting dishes out at the table and May was pulling slightly burnt garlic bread out of the oven. The trio ate in companionable silence with Peter occasionally recounting what he had built with Tony or what movie he had watched with Morgan or what Pepper had baked for dessert.

After dinner Peter offered to clean up the table and shooed Happy and May off to the living room. As he was scrubbing the dishes clean Happy came in to bid him goodnight before heading to the door and kissing May goodbye.

"If you change your mind…" Happy trailed off with a slight smirk.

"Then I'll call you. Which I won't." May smirked right back.

"It was worth a try," Happy sighed, "What time are you guys leaving in the morning?"

"Around nine. We have to pick up Ned and then we'll probably grab something to eat before hitting the road."

Happy nodded as he opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.

"Well you guys be safe and call me when you make it there. I love you." Happy said, leaning in for a kiss.

"I love you too." May whispered against his lips.

Peter made a face and tried to focus all of his attention on a particularly stubborn bit of sauce.

The door closed which signaled to Peter that Happy was gone.

"Go to bed early tonight Pete, we have to be up early tomorrow. Here, I'll finish the rest of this. Why don't you call Ned and make sure that he'll be ready by eight." May said as she pulled the sponge out of Peter's hand.

"Thanks May! Love you!" Peter said, wiping his soapy hands on his pants and hurrying to his room.

"Love you too!"

At 8:15 the next morning, May had a backseat filled with two overly excited and caffeinated teenage boys. May smirked as she listened to them argue over which museums they should definitely go to versus which ones they wanted to avoid. They were currently sat at a red light and May took this opportunity to enjoy her second coffee of the day. A part of her regretted not taking Happy up on his offer to drive them to D.C. but she knew how busy he was during the week.

After the reversal of the snap, the Avengers all moved back into Stark tower. Tony, Pepper, and Morgan had also made the move back to the city but went back to their lake house every weekend. During the week Happy drove Pepper to Stark Industries meetings, the Avengers to meetings with government officials, and Morgan wherever she wanted. He also picked Peter up from school every day and took him to the tower where he spent three hours either training with Steve Rogers or working in the lab with Tony.

The light turned green and May set her cup back down, waiting for the cars in front of her to move. It wasn't long before she was pulling into the intersection when Peter screamed out from the backseat.

"May look out!" Peter shouted, his left hand shooting out to grab her right shoulder.

That was all the warning May got before the semi-truck running its red light slammed into the driver's side of the car. The semi tried to turn on impact, resulting in it jackknifing into oncoming traffic and causing May's car to flip over into the cars next to it. May's car flipped over a few times before careening to a stop on its roof near the sidewalk, its inhabitants completely unconscious.

Peter came to almost immediately. The first thing he realized was that he was hanging upside down. The next thing was that every part of his body hurt. Peter tried to take a deep breath but instead cried out in pain when the action caused his ribs to burn in agony. Peter couldn't figure out what was going on or where he was. He looked over and saw Ned with his eyes closed and his head lolling against his seatbelt. Why was he asleep when they were upside down? Where was Aunt May? Before Peter could try to figure out what was going on, the watch on his wrist began to beep.

"Multiple contusions detected. Calling Mister Stark." Karen's voice interrupted the noise of Peter's ragged breathing.

Multiple contusions? What happened?

"Peter? Karen gave me your location I'm on my way. What happened? Are Ned and May with you?" Tony's voice came out of his watch.

Peter furrowed his brow. Where was May? Peter tried to crane his neck to look for his aunt but was interrupted when a man stuck his head through the space where Peter's door window used to be. Where was his window?

"Hello? Hey you're awake – what's your name?" The man asked as his eyes roamed over Peter's face.

"Peter? Answer me! I called my medical team, they're on their way." Tony's voice filled the car again.

"Is your name Peter? My name is David. The paramedics are on their way. How old are you? Is that your mom in the front seat?" The man – David – asked.

Peter couldn't respond. His mom? She was dead, wasn't she? Peter's confusion must have shown on his face because David leaned further into the car.

"That is a woman up there," David muttered to himself, "Is she your friend's mom?"

"She's his aunt. Can you check her vitals?" Tony's voice responded when Peter made no move to.

David glanced down at Peter's watch before nodding and crawling out of the car. He appeared a few seconds later near May's side of the car.

"She's breathing but it's really shallow. She's still unconscious." David said as he held his fingers to her neck.

Suddenly the sound of Iron Man's repulsors cut through the chaos of the accident as it landed next to their car. Tony stepped out and knelt down where David had been a minute ago.

"Hey buddy, how are you holding up?" Tony asked as he began to assess Peter.

When Peter still didn't respond Tony raised his eyebrows, trying not to show how panicked he was.

"Do you know who I am bud?" Tony asked, fingers prodding at a nasty cut above Peter's left eye.

Peter flinched at the contact but nodded in answer to Tony's question. Said boy reached up and gently rested his hand over Tony's, trying to convey what he couldn't through words. Tony turned his hand over and squeezed Peter's.

"The paramedics are here." David suddenly said as sirens grew louder and louder in the direction of the intersection.

"Direct them towards the other cars and tell them my personal medical team is taking care of this one please." Tony responded, eyes never leaving Peter's.

David nodded and left to do as he was told.

"It's going to be alright Pete. I'm right here."

Tony's medical team had showed up not even a minute after the ambulances had begun to arrive. Police on the scene were trying to take statements from witnesses and were in the process of arresting a heavily intoxicated, but otherwise unharmed, truck driver.

Tony stepped back, much to his own hesitance, to allow his team to expertly begin to extract the Parkers and Ned from the completely crushed car. Peter was the first pulled out and settled into a gurney so Tony sat with him in the back of one of the medical vans since neither May nor Ned had regained consciousness yet. Peter still hadn't spoken a word and Tony immediately knew that he was in shock.

"Once they pull Ned and May out we're going to the tower and we'll hook you up to the good stuff. Bruce and Dr. Cho are already prepping the place to take good care of the three of you." Tony said, trying to keep up a constant stream of conversation to both distract the boy and keep him awake.

Peter still had not spoken a word. Every now and again he would squeeze Tony's hand or nod his head but otherwise his eyes were trained on the medics trying to get his best friend and his aunt out of their car. At one point a group of medics huddled together before breaking off, one coming towards Tony and Peter while a couple of others went off towards a firetruck.

"We're going to need the jaws of life to extract the female driver. She's pinned in multiple places and we can't safely remove the metal with our hands. Once she's secure we need to move fast because she's going to start bleeding out." The medic informed his boss, unawares of how each word that left his mouth made Peter's breath more and more panicked.

Tony squeezed Peter's hand in what he hoped to be a reassuring manner before throwing a glare at the medic. He knew the guy was just trying to do his job but he didn't have to be so crass in front of the kid. Tony wanted to ask about Ned but he was scared of what was going to come out of the guy's mouth.

"Thanks." Tony replied instead.

The medic nodded before turning back to the car where a group of firemen were now preparing to extract May. Ned was almost completely pulled out of the back of the car and was soon placed on a gurney before being wheeled off to his own van. Peter tried to sit up, neck craning to watch his friend being loaded up, but was pushed back down by Tony's unoccupied hand.

"Hey, he's fine. They're just securing him in the van so once they get May out they can transport all of us to the tower. Easy-peasy." Tony tried to soothe the boy's nerves.

Normally Peter and Ned's vans would have already left for the tower and both boys would already be settled in the medbay but Tony knew that Peter would only work himself up with anxiety on not knowing how everybody was. If only the boy would lose consciousness. Then he wouldn't be in so much pain and they could go ahead and leave. Yet a part of Tony was scared of what would happen if the boy closed his eyes. Ned and May had yet to wake up and it made Tony sick with worry.

A sharp high-pitched squeal cut through the thick silence that had fallen over the medical van and Tony felt Peter tense up. Tony began to question whether he had made the wrong call in having the vans wait to leave until everybody was loaded up but was interrupted by shouting.

"She's out! We need to go now!" One medic yelled as May was pulled from the wreckage and placed on a gurney.

More medics immediately began to hover around May – hooking her up to various IVs and packing her tight with gauze pads to try and stop the bleeding. As soon as May was pushed towards her van another medic ran over and shut the doors to the back of Peter's van.

Peter, understandably, started to panic.

"It's okay Peter we're just going to the tower now that May and Ned are secure. Then we're going to hook you up to the good stuff – the stuff reserved just for good old Captain America – and you'll be able to sleep while Bruce and Dr. Cho work on Ned and May. Then you guys will be able to just chill out in our newly renovated medbay while you heal up and get better." Tony rambled, trying to calm Peter as the medic started their van up and headed towards the tower.

Peter, who hadn't spoken a single word since the accident had occurred approximately thirty-seven minutes earlier, suddenly turned to look Tony in the eye.

"You promise?" Peter whispered, hand gripping Tony's tightly.

"What? That you'll get to be the first ones to hang out in our new medbay? Hell yeah!" Tony responded.

He wasn't stupid.

He knew exactly what the kid was asking.

He wasn't going to answer that question.

"No." Peter ground out, eyes fluttering as he tried desperately not to lose consciousness, "Promise me we'll get better. That _they'll_ get better."

Everything in Tony screamed for him to not answer Peter's request. He knew nothing good would come out of it and that he couldn't predict the question despite how badly he wanted to reassure Peter. And yet, with the boy staring at him with such raw and desperate hope, Tony couldn't help but open his mouth and let the words fly out.

"I promise."

**A/N: **Hey guys! I'm back! But this time with an Avengers/Spider Man story. The first time I published on here was my freshman year of college and now I'm starting my senior year next week. Isn't that wild? Also I created an AO3 account and moved my stories over there as well so if you're coming from there and this story looks familiar IT IS NOT STOLEN. Anyways I hope you like this fic. Give it some love. Thx. :)


	2. Chapter 2

The ride to the tower was a giant blur. Peter passed out after making Tony promise that everything would be okay and shit if that one wasn't going to bite Tony in the ass later. Sooner rather than later the three medical vans pulled up to the tower and all three gurneys were rushed into the building. Tony tried following Peter's but was separated during the elevator rides down to the medbay. By the time Tony made it to the medical wing everyone was being assessed and he wasn't allowed back per Bruce's orders.

"I'm sorry boss but you have been denied entry to the medbay for the time being." Friday announced as Tony tried to open the medical doors.

Tony thought about fighting the AI but decided against it. He knew that even if he could override his way into the medbay that Bruce would be upset and would be distracted from working on whoever he had with him. No; May, Ned, and Peter needed Bruce and Helen Cho to help them. They didn't need to be distracted by Tony throwing a temper tantrum.

With that thought in mind, Tony sunk down in a chair next to the door and closed his eyes. He had been having a calm morning with Pepper and Morgan when Friday had alerted him to Peter's distress. Pepper had been cooking pancakes while Tony colored with Morgan at the kitchen counter. And then Friday had informed Tony of the situation the Parkers were in and Morgan had started crying because Peter was hurt and the only thing Tony could do was call a suit while Pepper tried to comfort their daughter.

"Friday where's Pepper and Morgan?" Tony asked.

"Pepper is in the living area with Colonel Rhodes and Steve Rogers. Morgan is currently watching a television show with Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton." Friday answered.

"Have Pepper come down here if she can."

"Of course, boss."

Not even five minutes later the elevator opened and out rushed Pepper, Rhodey, and Steve. Pepper made a beeline for her husband, sitting in the seat next to him and hugging him as tight as she could.

"Oh my god are you okay? Is Peter okay? What happened?" Pepper asked, leaning back to take a good look at Tony's face.

"I'm fine. Their car was awful Pep, it was crushed and flipped over. Peter was conscious when I got to him but he was really confused and he passed out on the way to the tower. Ned and May were unconscious the entire time I was there. They didn't even stir when they got pulled out of the wreckage. May had to have the jaws of life used on her. I have no clue what happened but there was an overturned truck and multiple other car accidents." Tony sighed, leaning into Pepper's embrace.

"The news is reporting that the truck jackknifed and flipped over. Some cars got crushed, some tried to move out of the way and crashed into others. The driver was drunk. Not a scratch on him." Rhodey supplied, jaw clenched.

Tony felt his blood boil as he listened to Rhodey relay what had caused the accident that had left the Parkers and Ned's lives at risk. Some bastard decided to drink and get behind the wheel of a very large truck and had caused all of this chaos. It made him sick. Before Tony could express his anger the doors to the medbay flew open and out walked Doctor Bruce Banner.

Tony and Pepper simultaneously jumped to their feet and soon all four adults were nervously circling their friend. Bruce immediately raised his hands in a calming gesture, efficiently cutting off any questions that were about to be slung his way.

"I have no updates on May or Ned. I am primarily caring for Peter at this time. Peter came in with a severe concussion and a heavily bleeding head wound. We were able to stop the bleeding and suture the cut. As for the concussion the only thing we can do now is keep waking him every thirty minutes and asking him questions. He also has been treated for the multiple cuts and scrapes along his arms and face that were caused by the window shattering. He has two broken ribs on his left side and three bruised ones on his right. We had to put his left knee in a brace as it was dislocated during the crash. With his advanced healing his body tried to mend it out of place and we may have torn some ligaments when we set it. Overall Peter is very lucky and will make a full recovery." Bruce relayed to the concerned group surrounding him.

"How long will it take him to heal since he has advanced healing?" Steve asked once Bruce was done talking.

"Well, considering that he has multiple injuries to heal from, it may not be as quick as he normally heals. However it should be quicker than the average human. I predict his concussion will be gone by tomorrow morning, maybe even late tonight. His knee will take up to a week to heal and his ribs anywhere from three to five days." Bruce responded.

"When can we see him?" Tony asked, wanting nothing more than to sit by his kid's bed.

"Actually we had woken Peter up right before I came out here and he was asking for you. I wanted to let you know how extensive his injuries were without little super-hearing ears listening in." Bruce smirked, stepping aside so Tony could see the kid.

Tony gave Pepper a kiss on her cheek and nodded at Rhodey and Steve before stepping into the medbay in search of Peter's room.

The first thing Peter had been aware of was pain. Everything hurt from his knee to his ribs. His head hurt the worst though. Peter imagined a little pissed off leprechaun had decided to play around with a jackhammer inside his skull. Opening his eyes was the worst mistake he could have ever made. The light was so bright it shot intense stabbing pain straight into his head to join the little leprechaun inside.

Once he was able to hold his eyes open a little bit he realized that Bruce was trying to talk to him. After telling him what year it was, what his name was, and who Bruce himself was; the man left in search of Tony per Peter's request. He really wanted to know how May and Ned were, he remembered being in the car with them during the accident, but other than that he couldn't remember much else.

Before he could continue to ponder their whereabouts, Tony was slipping through the door of his room and sitting in a chair by his head.

"Hey kiddo, how are you feeling?" Tony asked, one hand holding onto Peter's right and the other gently carding through his hair.

"Hurts… 't hurts…" Peter tried to say but his tongue felt heavy in his mouth.

Tony glanced somewhere over Peter's shoulder and squeezed his hand a little.

"Well it looks like they've got you hooked up to the good pain meds so hopefully that pain will go away soon." Tony reassured him.

Peter slightly nodded and closed his eyes but quickly opened them as he realized that he was about to fall asleep. Tony seemed to realize the same thing because he gave him a knowing look.

"Go to sleep Pete. I'll be here when you wake up." Tony said, giving him a small smile.

"May… 'nd Ned… where… they?" Peter whispered, eyes squinting against the harsh light. That light was really hurting his head.

"They're each in their own room being taken care of. I don't really know how they're doing right now though so don't ask me that." Tony responded truthfully.

He didn't know how May and Ned were doing and he purposefully had avoided trying to find out their conditions before seeing Peter. He knew they most likely weren't doing all that good and he didn't need to be stressing the kid out when he wasn't completely coherent.

Peter's eyes fluttered closed again before he opened them back up, a little slower this time.

"Go to sleep Pete." Tony whispered, a fond smile breaking across his face despite all of the concern and anxiety he was feeling right now.

Peter sighed and squeezed Tony's hand once more before closing his eyes and succumbing to the darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **Hey guys! So I apologize for taking so long to update. At the moment I'm anticipating a once a month update schedule. I'm taking four lectures, one lab, one online class, I work Sundays & Wednesdays, I'll be working as a tutor on Tuesday & Thursday mornings soon, and I'm a part of a women's writing club on Thursday nights. I'm super busy and booked this semester so please be patient with me! With that said, here's the next chapter. Please leave any comments, reviews, etc.

* * *

The next morning brought some relief to Peter. After hours of little to no sleep, of being woken up by either Bruce or Tony just as he had fallen asleep, Peter was cleared of his concussion around 4:30 and he was allowed to sleep uninterrupted.

Once Peter was fast asleep, Tony stood from the chair that he had occupied for the greater part of the night and decided it was time to get an update about May and Ned. Now that Peter no longer had a concussion he was definitely going to be asking about his aunt and his best friend. Tony was just slipping out of Peter's room when he ran straight into another person – Bruce to be exact.

"Is he asleep?" Bruce asked, glancing down at the chart in his hand.

"Yeah, he passed out about ten minutes ago." Tony responded.

Bruce nodded as he made a note in Peter's chart before setting it down in the clear plastic holder next to his door.

"You're looking for May and Ned." Bruce stated, to which Tony nodded.

Bruce jerked his head down the hall and Tony followed him to a room a couple of doors down from Peter. The door was temporarily labelled 'Leeds, Ned' and the lights were dim inside. Bruce grabbed the folder from its holder, which was significantly thicker than Peter's was, and began to read off from it.

"It looks like Ned has multiple internal injuries and he was rushed into emergency surgery to repair a rupture to his spleen. The rest of his internal injuries are mainly bruised organs and broken ribs. He has a fracture in the lower part of his spine, his lumbar, that they're keeping an eye on. That's the part of the spine that controls your leg movements as well as your bowel and bladder. They've placed him in a medically induced coma so that he won't move around while his spine is healing."

Tony closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he processed everything that Bruce was saying. It sounded like Ned could very well completely recover from all of his injuries. The biggest concern at the moment would be the possibility of paralysis due to his spinal injury. While that would be a huge difficulty to overcome, Ned was young and Tony could definitely build anything that he needed to help him adapt to his new life.

Bruce stuck the folder back in its holder before continuing down the hall and taking a sharp right towards a set of double doors labelled 'ICU'. Bruce mad eye contact with Tony as he scanned his badge to unlock the doors.

"I don't know the exact extent of her injuries but I do know they're not good." Bruce warned as they walked through the double doors and down the hall.

May's room was in the middle of the hallway and while the doors to her room were made of glass, Tony couldn't see her beyond the curtains that were drawn around her bed. Bruce pulled down her charts, opened them, and immediately frowned.

"What?" Tony asked when Bruce didn't read off her injuries as he had done Ned's.

"She's… she's really hurt Tony." Bruce sighed, eyes still scanning the files.

Tony's eyebrows pinched together as he strained to read the charts upside down.

"She had to be cut out from the car, which you probably already knew. The seatbelt cut into her chest and neck so they had to stitch her up. The impact of the collision was on her left side which did an extreme amount of damage. Her ribs are completely shattered on that side of her body and she had to undergo surgery because she punctured her lung. Her arm is also broken and she has suffered multiple fractures in her legs and feet. She has swelling in her brain and she was bleeding internally off and on yesterday so they're monitoring her for both of those things. She…" Bruce trailed off as he reached the latest update on her chart.

"What?" Tony asked, feeling hopelessly lost as he waited for Bruce to respond.

"She slipped into a coma this morning." Bruce said.

"It wasn't medically induced?" Tony asked.

"No."

Tony sighed as he peered back into May's room. In all honesty, he was scared. It didn't sound good. It didn't sound like May was going to pull through completely unscathed. Suddenly Tony came to a realization that made his blood run cold.

What if May didn't pull through at all? What would happen to Peter?

Tony was pulled out of his musings by Bruce laying a hand on his shoulder.

"It's too early to tell anything right now Tony. All you can do is be there for Peter when he wakes up."

Tony nodded, agreeing with what Bruce was saying. It was too early to predict what would happen to May and even Ned for that matter.

"Boss?" FRIDAY cut through the silence that had fallen over the ICU hall.

"Yes Fri?" Tony called out.

"Miss Morgan is asking for you. Shall I tell her you're busy?"

Tony shook his head and began to walk out of the ICU with Bruce.

"No, tell her I'll be right up."

* * *

Tony was directed to the common floor rather than his private floor by FRIDAY. Once he arrived he found almost everybody was awake except for Pepper, Wanda, and Vision. Morgan was sat at the table, a stack of waffles piled high in front of her, as she listened to Thor telling her a story of when he was a child. Rhodey glanced up at Tony when he walked into the room before turning back to his task of pouring syrup over Morgan's breakfast. Steve and Clint were in the kitchen, flipping pancakes and frying bacon respectively. The others were either gathered around the kitchen table or the island. The TV was on in the background, Paw Patrol playing on mute.

"How long has the peanut been awake?" Tony asked as he approached Bucky and Sam at the island.

"About an hour. She woke Rhodey up and he brought her down here so she wouldn't wake Pepper up. She was fine until we all started to sit down to eat. Then she asked for you." Sam explained.

Tony nodded as he watched his daughter dig into her food, still enraptured by Thor's probably outlandish story.

"She's been asking about Peter." Steve said, coming over to dump more waffles onto an already huge pile on the island.

Tony sighed. He knew she was going to figure out that Peter was hurt eventually but he didn't want her to worry about it right now.

"Pep and I will talk to her later." Tony answered, grabbing a waffle and chewing it contemplatively.

"How's everybody doing?" Bucky asked as he played with a piece of bacon that Clint had handed him.

"Peter's concussion went away so he's sleeping now. Ned's got some more severe injuries though. He has a couple of lower spinal fractures and he's been placed into a medically induced coma. May on the other hand… it's not looking good at all. She slipped into a coma this morning. Bruce says it's too early to tell anything but her brain is swelling and bleeding." Tony muttered as he began to pick at his waffle.

"Damn…" Clint sighed as he took the last of the bacon off the frying pan, "Ooh if I could get my hands around that truck driver's neck I swear I would kill him in a heartbeat."

"You and pretty much everyone in this building." Bucky growled, biting into his bacon.

"Daddy!" A shrill cry from across the room broke the tense atmosphere that had developed in the kitchen.

"Maguna!" Tony called back as he walked to the table that his daughter was sitting at.

Said girl smiled as her father made his way over to her, syrup dripping down her chin.

"Daddy where's Peter? I heard Uncle Rhodey saying he was here." Morgan asked, cocking her head to the side.

Tony glanced over at Rhodey who was grimacing sheepishly down at his plate. It wasn't his friend's fault that his daughter seemed to have super-hearing abilities that only small children possessed. Tony squeezed Rhodey's shoulder as he sat down next to him.

"Peter's sleeping right now hon." Tony said, hoping his answer would be enough.

"Can he play with me later? We haven't finished building our Lego castle yet." Morgan asked while stuffing her mouth full of waffle.

"Chew before you talk little miss. And no I don't think Peter's going to be able to play for a while." Tony answered as he watched his little girl frown at his answer.

"Why not?" Morgan pouted, setting her fork down on her sticky plate.

"Because Peter's really tired and he isn't feeling good right now." Tony answered.

It was the truth. Peter was drained from healing and he was in a lot of pain so he really wasn't feeling good.

Morgan still looked upset at his answer but picked her fork back up anyway and continued to eat anyway. Thor, sensing an impending storm, opened his mouth.

"Little Stark, have I told you the story of the time that my brother Loki and I snuck away from a dinner that the entire kingdom was attending just so that we could…"


	4. Chapter 4

It was a little after two in the afternoon when Tony got the text message.

'_Just finished with the shipment… heading back to the city… have you heard from the kid?'_

Tony bit back a groan as he read his friend's message over and over again.

Early Monday morning, a few hours before the accident, Tony had gotten a call from T'Challa about a shipment of Vibranium making its way from Wakanda to upstate New York. The metal was for the Avengers (aka Tony) to use in creating new weapons. They were trying to keep the shipment and its contents from U.S. customs (aka Ross) so they had planned to intercept it before it hit U.S. waters.

So Tony sent Happy out that morning because he knew he could trust him with this task (despite Happy still feeling guilty about the plane debacle). However, once Friday had alerted Tony to the accident, and once they had gotten everyone into the medbay, Tony had completely forgotten about Happy.

He knew that Happy and May were seeing each other – Peter had come to him one day and asked Tony himself if he thought Happy would ever hurt May – so he knew Happy would need to be told what had happened. But then Peter had woken up, Tony had stayed with him all night and had completely forgotten about Happy until he had gotten this text.

So now Tony had a choice to make – tell Happy now or wait until he came by that evening.

Tony decided this was a decision Pepper could help him make.

As quietly as Tony could, he stood up from where he had been sat on the couch. Some cartoon about superheroes in pajamas was playing on the television as Morgan took her afternoon nap next to him. Coincidentally Natasha was asleep on the couch opposite them but Tony knew better than to tease her about taking an afternoon nap. He quite liked his head where it was.

Tony tiptoed over to the elevator and waited until the doors were shut before asking Friday where his wife was.

"Mrs. Stark is down in Peter's room in the medbay. Would you like to join her"

"Wh – yes!" Tony exclaimed, brows furrowing in confusion.

Why was Pepper in Peter's room?

"Why is Pepper down in medbay?" Tony asked.

"Because Peter requested her presence." Friday responded.

"And why wasn't I alerted that Peter was awake?" Tony asked indignantly.

The elevator doors opened right as Friday answered.

"Because he did not request for you."

Tony rolled his eyes as he made his way down the hall to Peter's room. Once he stood outside his door, he softly knocked before entering.

He was definitely not prepared for what he was about to walk into.

Peter was lounged in a sitting position on his bed, Pepper sitting next to him with her arm around his shoulders, both laughing hysterically. On the other side of the room Bruce was yelling at Thor who, upon further inspection, was holding multiple broken needles. Bruce faltered in his ranting when Tony came in before starting up again.

"Tell Thor to stay out of the medical equipment Tony! Look at all of this! I don't even understand how you can bend a needle like that!" Bruce seethed.

"It's actually not that hard good doctor. Here, I can show you right now!" Thor stated which caused Peter and Pepper to burst into laughter again.

Tony decided to intervene before Bruce turned a nasty shade of green.

"Why wasn't I invited to this needle-bending party?"

Bruce rounded on Tony who instead kept his eyes on Peter.

"Peter woke up and got lonely so he asked for me to come down here and keep him company." Pepper explained a little smugly.

"You could have called me too buddy." Tony said, trying to keep the hurt out of his voice.

"Well Friday said you were watching TV with Morgan…" Peter explained.

"She's been asleep for an hour bud."

Peter merely shrugged.

"Did you call Thor down here too?" Tony asked sarcastically.

"No, he just happened to wander down here… and find all of the needles…" Bruce muttered.

Peter bit his lip and Pepper covered her mouth with her hand, both trying to muffle their laughter. Thor simply looked confused as he turned and discarded all of the needles into a waste bin.

"Well I am off to check on the little Stark. Please call the lady in the ceiling if you need me young Peter." Thor announced.

"Natasha is also sleeping in the living room so I wouldn't wake either of them if I were you." Tony warned.

Thor's eyes widened comically before he slid past the still upset doctor and out of the door.

As Bruce busied himself with checking Peter's vitals, Tony sat down on the foot of Peter's bed and lightly squeezed his leg below the knee.

"How are you feeling kiddo?" Tony asked, eyes searching Peter's face for any signs of pain.

"Sore… really sore. I'm a little tired too but I would be able to sleep a lot better in my own room…" Peter directed that last part to Bruce who merely raised an eyebrow.

"I already told you that once you are concussion free for 24 hours and you can keep your food down then you can be released to your room." Bruce patiently responded.

"What do you mean he has to keep down his food?" Tony asked, watching as Peter's face grew red.

"Peter threw up his breakfast this morning." Pepper supplied, carefully pushing the hair off of Peter's forehead.

Peter refused to make eye contact with Tony after Pepper ratted him out, picking at his fingernails instead.

"Hey, it happens Pete. Nothing to be embarrassed about. We'll try some more food later and before you know it you'll be upstairs with Morgan doting all over you." Tony tried to reassure the teen.

Peter gave a small smile before looking up at Tony, face suddenly serious.

"How are May and Ned doing?"

Tony glanced over at Pepper who tightened her arm around Peter before looking over at Bruce who had set aside Peter's chart and taken off his glasses.

"It's important to keep in mind Peter that we have no idea what is going to happen. We only know what is happening right now. Do you understand?" Bruce explained, pulling a chair up to the bed.

Peter nodded his head slowly and braced himself for the news. Tony reached over and took ahold of Peter's hand in comfort.

"Ned has been placed in a medically induced coma. He has three spinal fractures along with other internal injuries. We decided he would heal better and faster if he could remain still and asleep." Bruce explained calmly.

Peter lightly squeezed Tony's hand as he took a deep breath, waiting to hear news about his aunt.

"May slipped into a coma of her own accord. Her injuries are incredibly severe. As of right now she is stable which is good news." Bruce said, trying to be vague yet truthful.

Tony braced himself for Peter to lightly crush his hand but instead he felt his grip grow limp. Glancing up at Peter's face, Tony was shocked at the numb, resigned look that had made its home in Peter's eyes.

"Hey," Tony soothed, squeezing Peter's hand, "We're going to get through this, okay? Whatever happens we're right here with you."

Peter slowly nodded at Tony's words but it was clear that he hadn't been listening.

"I um… I think I'm going to try and go to sleep now. If um… if I could just be left alone now…" Peter mumbled, shifting slightly out of Pepper's arms.

Tony felt Peter pull his hand out of his grasp and felt powerless as he watched him shut down right before his eyes.

"I mean, if you're sure…?" Tony trailed off, trying to meet Peter's eye but the teenager merely nodded as he stared straight ahead at the wall.

Tony glanced over and made eye contact with Pepper who nodded slowly, kissed the top of Peter's head, and got up off the bed. Bruce did the rest of his rounds quickly and then the three adults made their way out of the room. Tony paused before shutting the door, turning around to face Peter. Said boy had slid down on the bed and was laying down now, staring up at the ceiling.

"Tell Friday whenever you get lonely kid, I'll be back down here as soon as you're ready for company." Tony said.

When he realized he wasn't going to get a response out of him Tony resignedly turned around and left the room. He briefly heard Peter ask Friday to dim the lights before he followed Pepper and Bruce to the elevator.

Bruce, noticing Tony's clear agitation, spoke up, "We need to keep an eye on Peter, we shouldn't let him wallow by himself for long periods of time. However, we can't suffocate him either."

Tony nodded at Bruce's words. He knew that he shouldn't push but the idea of Peter hurting by himself when Tony could be helping him, comforting him, killed him. He decided to check in with Friday and if Peter hadn't fallen asleep within the next thirty minutes he was going back down to medbay.

It was only when the elevator was taking them up to the common floor that Tony suddenly remembered the exact reason why he had been looking for Pepper in the first place.

"Pep, I need your help." Tony said, quickly rounding on his wife.

"With what? What did you do?" Pepper asked, wide eyed.

"Nothing! Well, that's exactly my problem, I did nothing…" Tony trailed off as Pepper's eyes narrowed, "With everything going on, I forgot to tell Happy about the accident and he's coming back with the shipment of Vibranium tonight and I'm not sure what to do. He texted me a few hours ago asking if I heard from Peter because he hadn't heard from May and I just… should I text him back? Should I wait?"

By the time Tony had finished explaining his current predicament to Pepper, the elevator had stopped and the trio had wandered over to the kitchen island where Clint and Rhodey were sat. Thor was sitting on the couch with an awake Morgan and Natasha, watching TV, while Vision and Wanda were playing a card game at the kitchen table.

"Woah, take a breath there Tones." Rhodey, putting a hand on his best friend's shoulder.

"Rhodey is right Tony, take a minute and calm down. Now, if you're wanting my opinion, I think you should definitely wait for him to get here. Sit him down and explain the whole thing to him and tell him that you didn't think it was appropriate to tell him about the accident over text." Pepper replied, taking Tony's hand and lightly squeezing it.

Tony took a deep breath and nodded at his wife's words. She was right, as always. He shouldn't dump all of this on Happy through text. It would be better to explain the whole thing to him face to face. He deserved that much

"Do you want me to help you talk to him?" Rhodey asked and thank God for Rhodey because he always seemed to know exactly what Tony needed.

"Yes, please honey bear." Tony replied sweetly.

Rhodey chuckled, opening his mouth the throw out some witty retort, when Friday interrupted.

"Boss, I believe you should head back down to medbay. Peter appears to be extremely distressed."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **Hey guys! Listen, I'm so sorry for the almost 3 month radio silence. This past semester swamped me, that's my only excuse. I had two jobs and five classes (plus a lab) and it killed me. Also I've had bronchitis for the past 3 weeks so that's fun too. I'm happy to announce that I finished the semester with a 3.5 GPA.

I'm also happy to announce that since I'm on Christmas break now until mid-January, I plan to release AT LEAST one chapter each week. Some weeks I might be able to crank out two or three chapters so those will be some nice little treats.

Like I promised earlier, I can't always guarantee a consistent upload schedule but I can promise that I will never abandon this piece. 3

Both Tony and Bruce immediately got in the elevator and rushed down to medbay. As they made their descent Tony asked Friday exactly what type of distress Peter was in.

"Peter appears to be having a panic attack sir. Shortly after everybody left his room, Peter laid in bed before beginning to cry which led to hyperventilation and then to a panic attack." Friday informed the pair.

Bruce turned to Tony as soon as the elevator doors opened and they hurried down the medbay hall towards Peter's room.

"I think you should go in there and try to calm Peter down yourself. He'll most likely respond better to you. I'll go and check on May and Ned. If you can't calm him down within the next five minutes I'll sedate him." Bruce said.

Tony nodded and watched Bruce head towards the ICU before taking a deep breath, bracing himself for what was behind the door in front of him.

The first thing Tony heard when he stepped into Peter's room was choking sobs as Peter seemed to be trying to calm himself down. As Tony slipped inside, his heart broke a little more at the way Peter was awkwardly curled into himself, his arms wrapped around his midsection as if he were trying to hug himself. Tony shut the door and immediately rushed towards the bed.

"Hey Pete, it's Tony, can you look up at me?" Tony asked calmly, crouching down near Peter's head.

Peter's eyes were squeezed tightly shut, tears slipping out despite his best efforts, before he hesitantly opened them. If Tony thought his heart couldn't break any more than it already was, he was sorely mistaken. The look of pure agony that was settled into Peter's eyes was terrifying.

"Hey, are you in pain?" Tony asked, voice softened to the tone he used whenever Peter, or Morgan, woke from a nightmare.

Peter shook his head, breath hitching as he choked on another sob, before squeezing himself tighter.

"Okay, hey bud, I need you to try and focus on me. Okay? I need you to list five things that you can see. Alright? What can you see?" Tony asked, reaching out a hand and brushing the kid's bangs off his forehead.

Peter's eyes darted around the room as he tried to process what Tony was asking of him. Peter hadn't spoken for a little over a minute and Tony was about to prompt the boy again, when Peter suddenly spoke.

"I s-see umm, a needle? A umm… a tray… my IV l-line… a uh, sink, And the… the grey in your hair…" Peter whispered, his breathing become a little less erratic.

Tony couldn't help but snort at the kid's jab. Even in the midst of a panic attack Peter could still try and make a joke.

"You know the drill kiddo. Four things you can feel."

Peter scrunched his eyes closed as he tried to concentrate on Tony's words and not the panic tightening his chest.

"I can f-feel the sheets… the uh… the c-cast on my leg? The pillow. And um…" Peter faltered, opening his eyes and staring at Tony.

Slowly, almost hesitantly, Peter reached out and grabbed ahold of Tony's hand. Tony immediately grasped the kid's hand, giving it a small squeeze before rubbing his thumb over the back of it.

"Your hand." Peter said, smiling slightly.

Tony tried to return the smile before murmuring, "Three things you can hear."

"I can hear… my heart monitor… somebody walking in the hall and… Clint upstairs." Peter said, breathing almost completely under control now.

Tony cocked his eyebrow at that last one, confusion showing on his face.

"Scott just beat him at Mario Kart." Peter explained, a small smirk snaking onto this face.

Tony chuckled, squeezing Peter's hand again, before asking, "Two things you can smell?"

Peter's nose wrinkled up at the question.

"Antiseptic and bleach."

"One thing you can taste? Actually wait I don't think you can really answer that one too well right now…" Tony muttered.

"Meh I can still taste the tongue compressor Bruce used on me earlier if that counts." Peter responded.

Tony shrugged at the answer.

"Now, what was that about?" Tony whispered, gripping Peter's hand a little tighter when he suddenly tried to pull it back.

"I'm scared. I'm going to be alone." Peter whispered back.

Tony's brow furrowed as Peter refused to make eye contact with him.

"Kiddo, you're not going to be alone. I promise you that." Tony said, using his free hand to brush the hair out of Peter's downcast eyes.

"May and Ned might not make it…" Peter said, taking a deep breath after speaking.

Tony paused for a second, choosing his next words wisely.

"We're doing everything we can for May and Ned… and if worst case scenario something does happen to both of them, you will never be alone. I will always be here for you. So will Pepper and Morgan and every other damn Avenger upstairs. You have more people in your corner than you let yourself realize, kid. You're never going to be alone again." Tony said, leaning forward so Peter was forced to look at him.

Peter's lower lip quivered slightly before he bit down on it and in that moment Tony couldn't help but think about how Morgan did the same thing whenever she was upset and while they may not be biologically brother and sister, the comparison still made Tony's heart ache.

"Do you promise?" Peter asked, voice cracking.

"I promise." Tony responded.

Peter sniffed, giving Tony a small smile, before turning his head to look at the door. Just a few seconds later there was a knock before Bruce entered, clipboard in hand.

"How are we doing in here?" Bruce asked, glancing at Peter's vitals before looking down at said teenager.

"I'm okay now." Peter said, cheeks reddening slightly.

Tony continued to hold Peter's hand as he got up off the floor and slid into the chair next to his bed instead.

"Hey, nothing to be embarrassed about kiddo. Your emotions are valid and nobody is judging you here." Tony reassured.

Bruce nodded in agreement as he flipped through the pages of Peter's charts, making some notes.

"Can I try to eat something now?" Peter asked, turning to look at Bruce.

Bruce paused in his writing, looking at Peter over his glasses.

"Are you hungry?" Bruce asked.

"Well… not really. I just want to go up to my room." Peter murmured, playing with Tony's fingers that were wrapped around his hand.

Tony glanced up at Bruce, gauging his response.

"Well," Bruce sighed, setting aside the clipboard and taking his glasses off, "I've been thinking and I've come to the conclusion that it would be best for your recovery if you were to be in your own space where more people can visit."

Peter froze, his fingers stilling over Tony's, as he slowly processed what Bruce had told him.

"Wait, so, I can go up to my room? Now?" Peter asked, holding his breath in anticipation.

"Yes, I think we should go ahead and make the move. Then we'll try you on some food. Some very bland food." Bruce said, sticking his glasses back on and writing down the rest of Peter's vitals.

Tony squeezed Peter's hand as he took in the overall joy that had taken over Peter's face. Peter turned and gave Tony one of his toothy smiles, the kind that he always had whenever he was in the lab working or playing with Morgan, and Tony could have cried then and there. This was the first time Peter had smiled since the accident and while his happiness may be temporary, Tony wanted to make sure he felt like this for as long as he could.

"What do you say, kid? We'll get you all settled in and little Miss Morgan can come visit and we'll have Clint and Scott set up Mario Kart in your room and Pepper will make you the blandest of oatmeal. How does that sound?" Tony said, watching Peter's smile grow wider and wider with each suggestion.

"That sounds perfect."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Alright friends, here's another chapter! I'll hopefully be cranking out more of these seeing that I have either severely bruised or broken my ribs from all the coughing I did when I had bronchitis :) So I can't really do much else right now :) I'm convinced the universe is giving me sympathy pain for all of the injuries I've inflicted on the Parker and Leeds clan.

Anyways, please leave reviews because I eat those things up! Seriously, as long as you're not just being downright mean, I love any and all criticism.

I want to wish everybody a happy holiday season! I hope that, whatever holiday you celebrate (if any) that you have a wonderful time with friends and family.

* * *

After getting the kid settled into his bedroom, Peter promptly passed out amidst a pile of 'Get Well Soon' cards and an assortment of goodies. Tony smiled to himself as he watched the boy's chest steadily rise and fall in his sleep. It was a nice change to the earlier hyperventilating episode Peter had down in the medbay. Tony couldn't help but brush some stray strands of hair off of Peter's forehead, snorting at the way his eyebrows scrunched up in his sleep.

As quietly as possible, Tony slipped out of Peter's bedroom and almost tripped over his own daughter.

"Morgan!" Tony whispered in shock, steadying his five year old.

"I want to see Petey!" Morgan explained, trying to get past her father and into her pseudo-brother's room.

"Not right now little miss," Tony said, scooping the girl up into his arms and swinging her down the hall, "Petey finally fell asleep and he needs to rest so that he can get better."

"And then I can see him?" Morgan asked.

"Then you can see him." Tony confirmed.

Morgan leaned back slightly, eyes narrowing and head cocked to the side.

"Promise?"

"Your mom taught you how to do that, didn't she? That's not fair. The two of you are conspiring against me." Tony exclaimed as he entered the elevator, heading to the common floor.

Morgan was not fazed by his little outburst.

"Yes, I promise." Tony sighed, shaking his head when Morgan's face lit up like a Christmas tree at his confirmation.

The elevator opened and Tony carried Morgan towards the couch, leaning over and gently dumping her into Pepper's lap.

"Well what a nice little delivery!" Pepper said, beginning to tickle Morgan mercilessly.

The floor was suddenly filled with the sounds of Morgan's laughter which caused most of its inhabitants to pause and smile towards the scene.

"Hey Tones," Rhodey said, coming up behind Tony and clapping him on the shoulder, "Happy texted about five minutes ago, said he was a few hours out. What should we say to him?"

Tony sighed and turned so his lower back was pressed up against the couch.

"I guess we'll just start by telling him exactly what happened, I'll say that amidst the chaos I didn't think to tell him but once I did we decided it would be best to break the news in person rather than over the phone. I can offer to let him see May but I don't know if that'll do more harm than good." Tony confessed, rubbing a hand down his face.

"It should be Happy's decision Tony, you just have to be there for him." Pepper said, curling her arm around Morgan as she leant back against her mom.

Tony nodded absentmindedly, trying to discern the best way to break the news to one of his best friends.

"Hey, have you heard anything from Ned's parents?" Tony asked, turning around to address his wife.

"No," Pepper shook her head, "I haven't been able to get ahold of either of them. I'm a little concerned, surely they should've expected Ned to have called by now."

Tony bit back a groan. Why did the universe have to make everything incredibly difficult for him at all times? Rhodey sighed and squeezed Tony's arm before heading towards the kitchen.

"We'll figure it out Tony, we always do."

* * *

It had been about three and a half hours since Peter had been moved to his bedroom and while Friday said his vitals were fine, he still wasn't 24 hours clear of his concussion and Tony just wanted to check on him with his own two eyes.

Steve, Clint, and Vision were in the kitchen making tacos, tostadas, and quesadillas. Rhodey had been sitting at the counter with Sam while Natasha, Bucky, and Wanda played 'Go Fish' with Morgan. Thor was off on his floor, Bruce was down in the medbay, and Pepper was on a business call. Tony thought it was the perfect time to slip away.

However, he barely made it halfway to the elevator when Friday announced that Happy had arrived with the shipment of Vibranium.

Sam and Steve both offered to take care of the metal while Rhodey and Tony talked to Happy. With a plan in order, all four men piled into the elevator and made their way towards the garage. Once the door opened, Sam and Steve broke off towards the convoy while Tony and Rhodey lingered around the elevator. Happy was talking with Steve for a second before he made eye contact with Tony and rushed over.

"Hey, have you heard anything from the kid? I tried calling him and May a bunch of times but neither have answered their phones and she was supposed to call me when they got to DC but she can be forgetful although I'm not really sure why neither of them have answered my calls." Happy said all in one breath.

Tony sighed and glanced at Rhodey before motioning Happy to follow him back into the elevator. Happy complied and Friday immediately took all three men to the medical floor. When the doors opened, Happy's brows furrowed in confusion but he stepped out nonetheless.

"Sit." Tony said, gesturing towards the waiting room chairs.

Happy, still confused, hesitated before slowly sitting down.

"Okay, now I need you to know that this wasn't something that we thought you should hear over the phone, which is why you're only just hearing about this." Rhodey began, taking a seat next to Happy.

"What's going on? What happened?" Happy asked, eyes wide and breath slightly elevated.

"There was an accident yesterday morning. A drunk driver hit a bunch of people, including May. She's…. she's not doing too well right now. She slipped into a coma early this morning and she has some pretty severe injuries. They're concerned that Ned may be paralyzed and they've put him into a coma to keep him from moving around while his spine is healing. Peter is resting upstairs. He's hurt but he's already healing." Tony explained, eyes never leaving Happy's the entire time he spoke.

"We know this is a lot to take in, but we thought it would be better to tell you in person." Rhodey said, resting a hand on Happy's arm.

Happy mutely nodded as he glanced down at his hands, rubbing them together as he took measured breaths, trying to calm down. Tony and Rhodey remained quiet, allowing Happy to pull himself together before saying anything else.

After a few minutes, Happy looked up at Tony.

"I want to see her."

* * *

Tony took a deep breath as he left the elevator onto his own floor. It had been a two hours and all Tony wanted to do was wake Peter up and see if he was up to eating dinner. He also needed to give him another dose of his pain medication, per Bruce's request.

After Happy had requested seeing May, Tony and Rhodey took him through the medbay and waited for Bruce to let them into the ICU. Bruce kept them outside May's room, explaining in great detail all of her injuries to Happy, trying to prepare him for what he was about to see.

Tony had opted to stay outside. He didn't think he could stomach seeing May, the normally lively and spitfire woman that she was, on the brink of death lying incredibly still in her room. Apparently neither could Happy for he immediately turned around upon first seeing his girlfriend and promptly threw up out in the hallway.

After a few sips of water and some breathing exercises, Happy went back into May's room and didn't leave her side for two hours. The entire time he held her hand and talked to her - telling her about the trip he had just come back from, about how proud he was that she was fighting to get better, and about how much he loved her.

Tony stayed outside the room the entire time. He wanted to be there for Happy but he felt like he would be intruding on an intimate moment if he stayed directly at Happy's side. Around the hour and a half mark, Rhodey went back upstairs to make sure the team had left some food for them. Thirty minutes later Bruce came by with Peter's medicine and kindly, but firmly, kicked Happy out of May's room.

The two men made the trip to the elevator in silence until Happy promptly announced that he was going to turn in the for the night and got off on his own floor. After confirmation from Rhodey that there was in fact food leftover, Tony made his way to Peter's room.

As he got closer to Peter's room, the sounds of a television and giggling grew louder and louder. At first, Tony assumed Morgan was watching TV in her room next door, but upon opening the door he found said girl snuggled up in Peter's bed with him.

"What are you doing in here, little miss?" Tony asked, crossing his arms as he stood firmly in the doorway.

"I came to check on Peter and he was awake and so I asked him if he wanted me to stay with him and he said yes so I said let's watch Scooby Doo and he said okay so that's what we're doing." Morgan explained, curling closer to Peter.

Said teenage, albeit bruised and looking beyond exhausted, seemed content to be propped up in bed with a five year old snuggled up next to him.

"I was just about to call you or Pepper when Morgan showed up. Figured one of you would come looking for her eventually." Peter shrugged.

"Well, I hate to cut this cartoon marathon short but it's somebody's bedtime and somebody else is due to take their medicine." Tony said, walking towards the bed and carefully sitting at the end.

"But daddy!" Morgan whined, puckering out her bottom lip.

"Yeah, but daddy!" Peter mocked, also sticking out his bottom lip.

Tony couldn't help the bellowing laugh that erupted from deep inside him, causing him to throw his head back and scrunch his eyes at the sight of the two of them. His outburst only caused Morgan to look indignant while Peter bit his lip to hold back his own laughter.

"Well, normally you two would be _very _persuasive, but… not tonight. Morgan, go get mommy and tell her you need help brushing your teeth, please. Tell Peter goodnight, you'll see him in the morning."

Morgan huffed out an aggravated sigh before leaning over and giving Peter a gentle hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Goodnight Petey! Feel better, I see you in the morning!" Morgan exclaimed before sliding down off the bed and rushing out of the room.

"Five bucks says she doesn't get Pepper and you're going to be finding toothpaste in a lot of interesting places for the next two weeks." Peter said, grabbing the remote and turning the TV off.

"Good point, hey Fri, get Pepper up to Morgan's room please." Tony said, before turning towards Peter, "You up for eating anything? We have homemade Mexican but we can get you something a little more bland if you want. You also need to drink something because Bruce is concerned about you getting dehydrated and if that happens it's back to the medbay you go."

"Um… Maybe I'd be down for some rice if you guys made that." Peter said, trying to shift into a more comfortable position and wincing in the process.

"Yeah, once we get some food and liquids inside you then you can take some of these good pills and you won't be feeling any of that," Tony motioned at Peter's body, "anymore."

"Sounds good to me." Peter mumbled, smiling slightly at Tony.

Tony leaned over and ruffled Peter's hair before planting a chaste kiss on Peter's forehead.

"I'll go find you some rice. Stay here." Tony commanded as he got up off the bed.

"I don't know Tony, I was thinking about taking a walk downtown, maybe getting some ice cream or something." Peter smirked.

"Ha ha, you're ever so funny." Tony snarked, rolling his eyes as he left in search of food for his kid.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **Hey friends! I apologize if this update seems a little un-edited, I'm working on a time crunch. I'm getting my wisdom teeth taken out in about 8 hours. The good news is, I only have 3 wisdom teeth. The bad news is, I'm deathly terrified of being put to sleep. So, please distract me in the comments with kind words and funny stories please and thank you!

I'm not entirely sure when the next update will be. I'll be on some nice pain meds for a few days so I might not do much writing. I'm leaving my family's house on Saturday and going back to my apartment because my last semester as an undergrad starts next Monday!

One of my new year's goals is to spend more time doing what I love (aka writing) so I'm going to try my hardest to update this work every two weeks.

Thank you so much for all of y'all's constant love and support! I hope you've had a great start to your new year!

* * *

It was around eight in the morning when Tony was abruptly woken up by a sharp, incessant poking on his cheek. Flinching back and cracking an eye open, Tony was met face to face with a very determined looking five-year-old.

"You said I could see Peter in the morning." Morgan stated.

Tony blinked a couple of times to wake himself up. Behind him he could feel Pepper shifting around, most likely having been woken by their daughter as well.

"Yes… I did…" Tony eventually agreed.

"It's morning." Morgan said bluntly.

Tony's eyes widened at the same time Pepper snorted from behind him. Seriously, this girl was her mother with his hair color. Unbelievable.

"Honey, Peter is probably still asleep." Pepper explained when her husband didn't respond.

"No he's not. Uncle Rhodey and Bruce are in his room right now but they said I had to ask you guys if I could come in." Morgan explained.

Tony's heart started to beat a little quicker. Why were Bruce and Rhodey in Peter's room? And why hadn't he been notified? Had something happened to him? To May?

"I think you should have breakfast with mommy first while I check on Peter and make sure he's up for visitors." Tony said, throwing the blankets off of him and sitting up.

"I think that's a great idea, what do you want honey? Waffles?" Pepper asked, sitting up as well.

Tony smiled softly as he went into the bathroom to brush his teeth, listening to his wife and his daughter discussing breakfast options. After using the bathroom, Tony quietly slipped down the hallway and into Peter's room.

Peter was sitting up in bed, propped up by no less than a dozen pillows (courtesy of Pepper), listening to Bruce talk while Rhodey stood off to the side. All three of the room's occupants looked up when Tony entered and Peter gave him a small smile.

"Why am I never invited to these parties?" Tony asked, walking over and gently sitting on the bed next to Peter.

"Well Friday had said you were asleep but I guess that didn't last long after Morgan left." Rhodey said, a small smirk on his face.

"She is debating with her mother whether or not cold pizza is breakfast food." Tony said.

"It totally is." Peter said at the same time that Bruce responded with, "Absolutely not."

Rhodey chuckled as the teen sat up a little straighter, fully intent on arguing with the doctor, which Bruce saw immediately.

"Nope! You are not getting out of this talk that easily." Bruce exclaimed.

"What talk?" Tony asked.

Peter's shoulders slumped as Bruce turned to Tony and began to explain their latest prognosis.

"Well Peter is healing exactly how we thought he would, however I'm a bit concerned about his knee. As we discussed when he was first brought in, we had to do surgery on it because of his advanced healing trying to fix it prematurely. Therefore, I would like to start him on some physical therapy regiments to make sure all of his tendons and ligaments are healing properly. Rhodey offered to help him." Bruce said.

Tony shot Rhodey a grateful look before glancing back down at Peter. His cheeks were tinged slightly red, as though he were embarrassed, and he was playing with the tips of his fingers.

"What's up bud?" Tony asked, leaning over and lightly tapping their shoulders together.

Peter looked up at Tony and briefly made eye contact with Rhodey before looking back down at his hands.

"It's just… I mean do I really need physical therapy? It's just a little messed up. It's not like I'm – "

"Paralyzed?" Rhodey cut him off with a small smile.

Peter's face grew even more red at Rhodey's comment.

"Kid, listen, physical therapy is for anybody that needs it. It's not something that only really, _really _bad injuries need. Sometimes people need it to help them stretch out their muscles and others need it to learn how to walk again." Rhodey explained, sitting down on the end of Peter's bed.

"Exactly. I needed physical therapy when I got back from Afghanistan, I mean you saw the pictures when I got off the plane, my arm was in a sling for weeks." Tony chimed in.

"Might I add, Peter, you just had some pretty intense surgery on a serious injury. You're quite lucky that all you _need _is physical therapy." Bruce interjected, slipping his glasses off his nose and folding them into the breast pocket of his shirt.

Peter sighed and slowly nodded at Bruce's words, but he refused to look up at Rhodey or Bruce. Tony looked over at his friends and slightly nodded his head towards the door. Rhodey nodded and stood up from the bed.

"I would like to start physical therapy this afternoon, if that's okay with both Peter and Rhodey." Bruce announced.

"That's fine with me. Kid?" Rhodey asked.

Peter looked up and made eye contact with Tony who gave him a small, encouraging smile.

"Yeah." Peter said.

Satisfied, Bruce left the room, Rhodey following shortly behind him.

"How does three sound?" Rhodey asked from the doorway.

"Good." Peter said, "Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me. I'll see you soon kid."

And then it was just Tony and Peter.

"You have nothing to be embarrassed about Peter. Physical therapy isn't a sign of weakness and, no matter how small you think the injury, sometimes they'll only heal with a little extra help." Tony said, wrapping an arm around the teenager.

"I just… I feel bad because Rhodey literally had to learn how to walk all over again, has to wear those braces every day, and he's helping me bend my knee a little easier." Peter grumbled.

"Hey now, if it bothered Rhodey, which it doesn't by the way, then he wouldn't have even offered to help out in the first place. You're gonna be totally fine Pete, I promise." Tony said.

Peter seemed to relax a bit at his words and slowly leaned into his side.

"Okay."

The pair sat in silence for a couple of minutes before there was a knock at the door. Slowly, said door was pushed open and in walked Morgan, carrying a plate of bacon and toast, and Pepper, carrying a bowl of oatmeal.

"We thought you would be hungry so we made you breakfast." Pepper announced, setting the bowl on the nightstand.

"I helped." Morgan chimed in, smiling so big her dimples were showing.

"Yes she did." Pepper said as she grabbed a tray and slid it over Peter's lap.

Tony smiled as he watched Morgan put her plate onto the tray before clambering up the side of the bed and sitting by Peter's feet. Pepper set the bowl of oatmeal down onto the tray and sat down on Peter's other side, gently brushing his bangs off of his forehead. Peter thanked the girls as he carefully dug into his breakfast, weary of putting too much food onto his stomach.

* * *

It was currently four in the afternoon and Tony was tired. He could only imagine how tired Peter was though. Literally. Only imagine. After five minutes of trying to put all of his weight on his knee Peter quietly asked if Tony would leave. Tony knew the kid was embarrassed, and normally he would have pushed the issue, but Peter looked like he was on the verge of tears and Tony didn't want to make it worse.

So, Tony had gone up to Happy's floor but found his driver's bedroom door locked. He knocked a couple of times but didn't get an answer. So, Tony decided to whip up some spaghetti and left it on the stovetop, telling Friday to let Happy know the food was out there.

This whole interaction, or lack thereof, only took about thirty-five minutes so Tony still had more time to kill. Tony decided to head down to the medbay and see if he could get an update on Ned and May from Bruce.

Pepper had actually been able to get in touch with Ned's parents earlier in the afternoon. The two of them had been in Kentucky visiting family and were on their way back to the city. Tony had offered to send a private jet to get them there faster but they declined, thanking him profusely for the medical care he had been providing for Ned, and assuring him they would be there soon.

Once in the medbay, Tony just about ran right into Bruce. The doctor was leaving Ned's room and heading towards the elevator.

"Oh, Tony, I was just about to go looking for you. Ned's healing quite well and I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll be able to slowly begin to ease him out of his coma within the next week." Bruce said, smiling slightly.

"Seriously? That's great! Can I tell Peter? What about Ned's parents? Pepper got in contact with them and they're on their way." Tony said.

Bruce nodded.

"Yes, you can tell Peter and Ned's parents. I really think things are looking up for him." Bruce replied.

"That's really good news… What about May?" Tony asked.

Bruce's smile immediately fell from his face.

"I just… I don't know Tony." Bruce sighed, running a hand through his hair, "She's not doing any worse but that's mainly because there's really not much worse she can be. She's not doing any better either. If she doesn't show signs of improving soon, even the most miniscule of signs, I'm concerned that she may be too far gone."

Tony felt like someone had punched right him in the gut. May had to make it, there was just no way around it. Peter couldn't afford to lose another parent-figure in his life, it would absolutely destroy him. The only silver lining in all of this was that it appeared that Ned was getting better.

"I'm sorry Tony. I'll keep you updated." Bruce said, patting Tony's shoulder before heading towards the ICU.

Tony let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding before stumbling back towards the waiting room and sinking down into one of the chairs. He propped his elbows on his knees and dropped his head down into his hands. Tony felt tears prickling his eyes but tried his hardest to hold them in.

He couldn't cry. He had no right to cry. If anybody should be crying it should be the boy who could possibly be paralyzed for the rest of his life or the kid upstairs about to lose another part of his family or the grieving boyfriend about to lose his love.

Not Tony.

And yet, he couldn't help but let a few tears slip down his cheek, dropping onto his pants legs and leaving behind tiny little stains. Because the thing was, Tony remembered everything that was said in the back of that medical van the other day, even if Peter didn't.

Tony had made a promise.

And he wasn't sure if he could keep it anymore.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **Hey friends! Here's a new update! Sorry if it's been delayed, this semester has been a little overwhelming so far but nothing I can't handle! I'm also working two jobs and (surprise, surprise) I'm sick again so be kind to me. I wish there was a way for me to keep y'all updated on the fact that I am actually working on this story and not abandoning it. Would you guys like for me to create an instagram so that I can keep you guys updated? Or an email list? Or do you guys like the suspense of not knowing whether or not I am going to continue this piece? Let me know!

Once again I am a hungry beast and I only eat comments and reviews so please leave enough to fill me up! 3

* * *

"Is Peter coming with us?" Morgan asked as her mom set down a bowl of cereal in front of her.

Pepper sighed and glanced over at her husband, making eye contact with said man.

It had been almost two weeks since the accident. Peter was pretty much completely healed from all of his injuries, save for some stiffness and soreness in his knee. However, whenever Tony suggested that he join the family on their pre-planned vacation, Peter claimed to still not be feeling all that well. Tony wasn't dumb, he knew the reason for not wanting to leave wasn't solely based on pain. Yet, whenever Tony tried to ask him if he was scared of getting in a car or scared of leaving May, the boy shut down.

Tony and Pepper had even suggested they reschedule their vacation but this was met with even more opposition from Peter. He refused to hear them out, pointing out that Morgan would be the one most disappointed by this change of events. She really wanted to go to Disneyland.

"No honey, Peter's going to stay here and take care of Aunt May." Pepper explained, a warm feeling swelling in her chest.

Over the last few months since the snap reversal, May had become an aunt to Morgan. She even took Morgan some nights for "sleepovers" to give Tony and Pepper date nights or whenever Stark Industries needed them both for weekend meetings. This of course only made Peter and Morgan's bond stronger. The two of them had really become like siblings and these past few weeks had only reinforced this dynamic.

Morgan doted over Peter like a mini mother hen. She was constantly in Peter's room when she wasn't meeting with her tutors. She had her afternoon snack with him, did her classwork at his desk, and even played video games or watched movies with him. Sometimes Tony or Pepper had to carry her to her room for bed because she fell asleep next to Peter.

"Maybe I should stay and help Peter look after Aunt May." Morgan suggested, twirling her spoon around her bowl.

"But if you're here then you won't be able to explain to your dad who all the Disney princesses are and he'll be very confused." Pepper said in a dramatic voice.

"Remind me darling, Snow White is the one who lost her slipper, right?" Tony asked, feigning ignorance.

Morgan's eyes went wide and her mouth dropped in shock.

"What? No! That's Cinderella! Snow White ate the poison apple!" Morgan exclaimed.

"See, we really need you to come with us." Pepper said kindly.

Morgan sighed before nodding and digging into her food.

"Boss, Mr. and Mrs. Leeds have arrived." Friday announced.

Ned's parents had been visiting him ever since they had been contacted. At first Tony was prepared to let them stay on the lower floors but Bruce stopped that idea immediately. He told Tony that it wouldn't be fair for Peter to have them there. With his advanced healing, it would be hard to explain why he wasn't more hurt and make it near impossible to visit his aunt and best friend.

He told Ned's parents they couldn't stay all the time with Ned because it wouldn't be healthy for them and could hinder Ned's healing. It wasn't a lie. They got visitation hours every day from 8:30am – 11:00am then from 2:00pm – 6:30pm.

The one thing Tony did offer was to call their works and explain they needed time off and that ability to keep their jobs. He then offered them their paychecks plus a little more so that they could spend time with their son and not have to worry about their bills. While they were at first skeptical about taking the money, Pepper eventually broke them down by explaining that they just wanted them to worry about Ned and nothing else.

"Alright Fri, tell them they can go ahead and visit Ned." Tony said, pouring a bowl of cereal for himself, "Where's Peter?"

"Right here." Peter said, getting off the elevator and limping slightly into the room.

Pepper immediately came over and helped support him to the dining room table across from Morgan.

"Is your knee acting up this morning?" Tony asked, setting a bottle of his pain meds down in front of the teenager.

"Yeah, just a bit." Peter confessed, unscrewing the bottle and tapping a couple of pills into his palm.

Tony set his bowl of cereal down in front of Peter before heading back into the kitchen in search of some juice. Peter threw his head back and slung the pills into his mouth, dry swallowing his medication. Morgan made a face across from Peter which caused said boy to stick his tongue out at her.

"Kids, stop." Pepper chastised playfully as she sipped on her coffee.

Tony came back over with a glass of orange juice for Peter and a bowl of cereal for himself. He sat down next to Morgan and began to eat, watching as Peter took a long sip of his juice before working on his own bowl of food.

"Are you absolutely positive you don't want to come with us?" Pepper asked, sweeping Peter's bangs out of his face.

Peter gave Pepper a small smile as he swallowed his mouthful of cereal.

"I'm sure. I don't think I'd be able to walk around the whole park with my knee acting like this. Then Morgan would have to walk _extra _slow to keep up with old man Peter and she'll miss out on half the park." Peter smirked, tossing a look at Morgan.

Pepper looked over at Tony who merely shrugged in a 'what else can we do' manner.

"Alright, well if you're sure then we'll stop bugging you about it." Pepper said, giving Peter a kiss on the top of his head as she took her mug over to the sink, "Morgan you have five more minutes before you need to brush your teeth and get dressed. Our flight leaves in an hour and everybody," Pepper gave Tony a pointed look, "better be packed."

Tony averted his gaze and made eye contact with Peter, giving him a look that made him snort into his orange juice, causing it to splash out of his glass and onto the table. Morgan couldn't help but laugh, spraying cereal out of her mouth.

"Gross!" Tony exclaimed, grabbing his bowl and jumping up from the table, "Pepper the kids are spewing things everywhere!" Tony exclaimed in disgust.

"One. Hour." Pepper said, trying her hardest to fight the smile that wanted to break out over her face.

* * *

Tony, Pepper, and Morgan left at around nine in the morning. Morgan gave Peter almost a hundred hugs and kisses before she had to, physically, be dragged into the car by Pepper. Tony then bid Peter goodbye, giving him a tight hug and promising to call him every night before bed.

"We'll only be gone for a week, but honestly if Morgan gets tired of the park before then, we'll leave earlier. And if you need anything, anything at all, you call me. Okay? Even if you just get a hangnail." Tony said, making Peter snort, "Promise me?"

"Promise." Peter said.

Pepper then also dragged Tony to the car before bidding Peter goodbye. She hugged him just as tight as Tony before giving him a couple of kisses on the forehead. She then leaned back and placed both of her hands on his cheeks.

"We love you, Peter. We really wish you would come with us but we understand that you don't want to leave your aunt. Take care of yourself, hon. We'll be back before you know it." Pepper said.

Then the small family was gone, being driven by one of the Stark Industries drivers. Happy hadn't left his floor since the accident. Tony and Pepper went and visited him, bringing him food and other necessities, but Peter hadn't heard from him once.

It was currently around three in the afternoon and Peter was chilling on the common floor with Clint and Rhodey. They were watching reruns of Brooklyn Nine-Nine when Friday announced that MJ was on her way up.

Once Thanksgiving break came to an end and Peter was a little more lucid, he contacted MJ and told her what had happened. His girlfriend had immediately come over to the tower to check on her boyfriend. The pair then made their way down to the medbay and visited with Ned and May for a little bit. Ever since then, MJ had been stopping by the tower each day after school with Peter's classwork. The couple would do their homework together, eat dinner with the team, and then MJ would take his work with her and go home.

Peter sat up from his reclined position on the couch and made his way over to the elevator. The doors opened and out walked MJ, a small smile forming when she saw Peter.

"Hey stranger," MJ said, dumping a stack of books and papers into Peter's arms, "here's all your work."

"Thanks," Peter said, giving MJ a kiss on the cheek, "Let's get to work."

The couple got settled at the dining room table, spreading all of their school work out, and began to study. Clint turned the TV off and both men made themselves scarce so the teenagers could get their work done.

After a couple of hours of homework, teasing each other, and making out like two lovesick puppies – Peter and MJ finally finished. Peter then made some popcorn while MJ pulled up a movie and the two settled down for a quiet evening.

Just as the movie was coming to an end, Steve and Sam came onto the common floor and began to make dinner. MJ and Peter cleared off the table and offered to help cook which was kindly rejected. So instead the teens found themselves at the island, talking away about random things as the common floor slowly filled up with the rest of the team. Soon, dinner was done (homemade tacos and enchiladas) and the room was filled with talking and laughter.

After dinner Rhodey and Thor cleared the table and cleaned the dishes, Clint and Natasha set up a gaming console in the living room, and Bruce went back down to the medbay to make his evening rounds. Peter helped MJ pack up her bag and walked her to the elevator.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow." MJ said, leaning against the wall of the elevator.

"I can't wait." Peter said, leaning over and pressing a soft kiss to her lips.

"Try not to get into any trouble," MJ whispered, a little breathlessly.

"No promises." Peter smirked, kissing her again.

All too soon they were on the ground floor and MJ was walking outside, heading towards a Stark Industries car that would drive her back to Queens.

Peter pushed the button for Tony's private floor, having already bid goodnight to the others, and leaned back against the wall. He closed his eyes, sighing a bit as he tried to stretch his leg out to help ease the stiffness but only causing his kneecap to flare up in pain. Peter bit back a groan as he got off on his floor, limping over to the kitchen area. He found his pain medication in a cabinet filled with ibuprofen and children's Tylenol, popped a couple into his mouth, and washed them down with some water straight from the faucet.

After telling Friday to turn out all the lights, Peter limped his way back to his room before getting dressed in his pajamas and climbing into bed. Just as he was about to call it a night, Peter's phone began to ring. Grabbing it from the nightstand, Peter checked the caller id. It was Tony.

"Hello?" Peter answered, leaning back against his headboard.

"Hey kid! What have you been up to today?" Tony asked enthusiastically.

Peter told him about his mini TV marathon, MJ coming over, and what he ate for dinner. Tony then told him about their time on the plane, how Morgan had immediately passed out upon arrival in California, and how their dinner consisted of the best mac and cheese ever – "Seriously kid when we take you out here you'll definitely have to try it it's out of this world!" – before Tony asked him about his knee.

"Is it still bothering you?" Tony asked, worriedly.

"A little." Peter admitted, shifting said limb and biting his lip in the process.

After promising to speak with Bruce in the morning if his knee was still hurting, and talking to both Morgan and Pepper for a minute, Peter hung up and slowly shifted to lay down in his bed. As he closed his eyes, willing sleep to take over, Peter couldn't help but think about May down in the medbay.

In the past two weeks, May had shown little to no improvement. Bruce kept trying to reassure him that it was better than negative improvement, but Peter wasn't stupid. He knew that eventually, with no progress, they would have no choice but to start making long term plans about May's medical treatment. He knew that the longer she stayed the way she was, there was more of a chance of her not being able to come out of her coma full unscathed.

Peter rolled over, curling up in the fetal position, and squeezed his eyes shut. He definitely didn't want to think about any of that right now. After a few moments, Peter finally succumbed to a fitful sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

Hey guys! I'm going to be very real right now: this semester was getting to be a little full. I was working two jobs, I was taking a grad class, and I was trying to finish my last hands-on undergrad education course. Then the governor of my state closed all K-12 schools which shut down both of my jobs. On top of that, my university moved all of their classes online which cut my senior year short and my May commencement ceremony has been postponed.

I'm upset about the way that my last year of college has ended and I'm even more upset with how my country has been handling the COVID-19 outbreak. I understand that people are getting incredibly sick and dying, so I am very appreciative that my university has taken every precaution to ensure that we stay healthy and safe. I'm just a little bummed right now.

I hope that every one of you is safe and healthy right now. I hope that you find light in these dark times. If there's anything that I can do for you or your family from behind my computer screen, please don't hesitate to let me know in the comments of this story. I'm going to be trying to update more now that I am at home and my classes are asynchronous. I'm sending you all love right now 3

* * *

Peter woke to his phone going off and sunlight in his eyes. His head felt like an angry leprechaun was going crazy on a jackhammer in his skull. He guessed that's what happened when he fell asleep after sobbing for most of the night. As he sat up and reached for his phone, the pain in his knee flared up and he hissed out in pain. Biting his lip, Peter finally got ahold of his phone and swiped to answer it before realizing that it was a video call from Tony.

"Hey kiddo!" Tony said, sunglasses obstructing half his face and a ball cap pulled down.

"Hey Tony," Peter said, sitting up and trying to look as if he hadn't just been asleep. He figured it was late.

His suspicions were confirmed when Tony pulled his sunglasses off and squinted at his screen.

"Are you still in bed? Isn't it like noon there?" Tony asked, concern seeping into his tone.

"I guess? I think I just needed the sleep." Peter confessed, moving to get out of bed and immediately regretting it.

His eyes screwed up and he bit his lip, trying unsuccessfully to hold back a whimper. He took a deep breath through his nose and slowly let it out before looking back at Tony. In the time it had taken Peter to work through the pain, apparently Tony had made his way into a deserted gift shop.

"Don't take this the wrong way kid, but you look like shit. Are you okay?" Tony asked.

"I think I slept through my pain meds schedule." Peter said, hoping Tony wouldn't pry too much about why he had slept so late.

"I want you to have Friday call Bruce up to the penthouse so he can give you your medication and he can look at that leg without you putting pressure on it." Tony said.

Peter tried to protest but Tony was having none of it and soon Bruce was knocking on his door and giving him his pain pills before examining his knee. After a thorough check of his knee with Tony keeping watch from Peter's nightstand, Bruce pulled his pajamas back down and covered his leg with his blanket before stepping back and sighing.

"I don't want you to leave this bed for the rest of the day." Bruce said, adjusting his glasses on his nose and turning slightly to address Tony, "His knee cap is swollen and, now that I think about it, we may take him back down to medbay to get an x-ray on it this afternoon."

Peter deflated as Bruce continued to talk with Tony about his knee. He really didn't want to have to be re-admitted to medbay, especially while Tony was away. As Peter continued to mull over how he was going to fair being confined to his bed for the unforeseeable future, he was pulled back to the immediate conversation by Tony speaking.

"I'm going to head home today."

"What? No!" Peter exclaimed, twisting so he could look directly at Tony.

"Uh, yes! You're still hurt and I'm not letting you be stuck in medbay by yourself because I know how much you hate being down there even when I'm there." Tony said, putting his sunglasses on and heading back outside.

"You can't just leave! You're on vacation with your family! Morgan will be devastated!" Peter tried to reason as Bruce laid a hand on his shoulder to help calm him down.

"Peter, we never should have left you while you were still recovering. Pepper and Morgan can stay behind and enjoy the park while I go back home to you." Tony said, apparently searching for his wife and daughter amongst the chaos that was Disney.

"I'm fine." Peter said, though at this point he wasn't sure who he was trying to convince.

His statement, however, stopped Tony dead in his tracks.

"So fine you that you cried yourself to sleep last night?" Tony asked, not unkindly.

Peter turned his head away, avoiding Tony's scrutinizing gaze.

"That's what I thought." Tony said.

It wasn't long before Tony found Pepper and explained the situation to her. Morgan was on one of the little kid rides and so Tony waited until she got off to say goodbye to her. Morgan did indeed pitch a fit, but not for the reason that Peter thought she would.

"I want to go home and help take care of Peter too!" Morgan exclaimed.

Pepper and Tony tried to explain that they were supposed to be at the park for the rest of the week and that Pepper would still be there with her, but Morgan had inherited both of her parents' stubborn genes and she was not easily dissuaded.

"If I may interrupt," Bruce stated, his hand squeezing Peter's shoulder, "Why don't you guys pack up and leave tonight so you'll be back by morning? All we're doing is taking some x-rays of his knee and maybe keeping him under observation for a few hours."

Peter watched as Tony and Pepper had a silent conversation before Tony turned back to his phone.

"Alright, I'm going to stay here at the park for a few more hours with Morguna while Pepper packs our stuff back at the resort." Tony said before looking down at his daughter, "We'll leave this evening and be back later tonight."

"And we'll come back again once Peter is fully healed and he can come with us." Pepper added.

"Okay!" Morgan cheered.

"That sound good with you kiddo?" Tony asked Peter.

Peter nodded his head. He was starting to feel tired again now that the sharp pain in his knee had turned into a dull throb.

"Good because you don't have a choice. Try not to give Bruce too hard of a time." Tony said.

"I never give Bruce a hard time." Peter said, smiling up at Bruce.

"Well keep it that way. Call if you need anything, kid. Take care of him Bruce." Tony said.

"He's in good hands here Tony." Bruce said.

The phone call ended and Peter suddenly found a small med-team filing into his room. He was gently lifted off his bed and into a wheelchair. Bruce pushed him to the elevator and the group made their way down to the medbay floor in silence. Peter was still contemplating his conversation with Tony and Bruce seemed to be giving him some space.

The next few hours slipped by in a blur.

After Peter had some x-rays done on his knee, Bruce came in to explain that when they had tried to put his knee back into place after the accident, they had done more than just tear some ligaments.

"It appears that the emergency medics were right about your knee already trying to heal. I'm afraid that we need to go in and remove some bone growth that doesn't belong. Your body was trying to heal the injury while your kneecap was out of its socket and you now have some abnormal growths grinding together whenever you walk or bend your knee. Have you ever heard of bone spurs? That's kind of what they are. It shouldn't take too long to cut them out and then you'll be healing properly and good to go within the next week." Bruce explained.

"Are we doing the surgery now?" Peter asked, nervously picking at the blanket thrown over his lap.

Bruce's eyes softened as he took in Peter's nervous mannerisms.

"No Peter, we're going to wait until tomorrow. The growths do not appear to be growing anymore and I think we both know that you'd rather wake up with Tony here." Bruce said.

Peter hesitated before nodding slowly, avoiding eye contact with Bruce.

"Also, I figured that since we slipped you past the Leeds, we could get you into the ICU and you could spend some time with your aunt." Bruce suggested, a smile growing across his face as he watched Peter's eyes light up.

Bruce then helped Peter back into the wheelchair and, once making sure the hall was all clear, pushed him down the hall towards ICU. Bruce made sure Peter was settled before checking over May's chart and vitals real quick.

"Is she doing any better?" Peter asked, squeezing May's hand slightly.

Although she was warm, the way her hand laid limply in his own still unsettled Peter.

Bruce looked up from the chart, a sad smile gracing his features.

"No, but she's also not doing any worse." Bruce tried to reassure him.

Peter sighed and nodded his head. He already knew the answer before he asked his question.

"I'll leave you two alone." Bruce said, setting down May's chart and slipping out the door.

Peter listened to Bruce's footsteps fading down the hall before turning his attention back to May – or rather May's blanket. Peter couldn't bring himself to look at his aunt's lax face as he spoke to her, he was too used to her lively features and expressions whenever he would talk to her. Looking at he now just felt wrong. Instead he found patterns in her bedspread as he spoke to his aunt about anything and everything she had been missing while in the coma.

As Peter spoke, he found the courage to glance up at May's face every once in a while, however he always ended up looking back down at the duvet.

"So Tony, Pepper, and Morgan are coming back tonight which I wasn't really on board with but now that Bruce says I have to have surgery… I guess I'm glad they're cutting their trip short. Pepper said that when I'm better they're taking me with them which got me thinking that when you wake up, you should come too. I know you've always wanted to go and now we have the perfect opportunity to do so. I mean, I feel like anytime Morgan wants to go that Tony will just drop everything and – " Peter stopped talking as he looked up at his aunt, the rest of his sentence getting caught in his throat.

Peter felt like he couldn't breathe because May was staring right back at him.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **Hey guys! I'm sorry for the late update. Things haven't been the best lately, school has been kicking my ass, and I've just had no motivation do anything in general.

Anyway, I felt really conflicted about adding this chapter as the state of the world has been so somber lately and this chapter isn't pleasant but I finally decided to just add it.

Please leave a comment - I love those things! Leave a review, some constructive criticism, or even just tell me how you've been (or write me a silly little poem).

P.S. I am not a healthcare worker or have any prior knowledge of comas or strokes so this is most likely medically inaccurate. This entire work is probably medically inaccurate. So, don't come at me!

* * *

"May?" Peter choked out, scooting closer to her bed.

Peter's mind was racing, he didn't know what to do. Should he call Bruce? Should he try to keep May awake?

"You really scared me, May." Peter whispered as he held his aunt's hand even tighter.

May gave Peter a small half smile, her lips quirking to the right side of her face as she squeezed Peter's hand.

"You're going to be okay. Tony, he's been taking really good care of you." Peter said, reaching out his other hand to touch May's cheek.

May sluggishly blinked and squeezed Peter's hand again.

"Tony's been taking really good care of me too. So has Pepper. Everybody has been looking out for me recently." Peter was quick to assure his aunt.

May shifted her head to look at Peter, her smile growing a bit on her right side, her hand still griping Peter's. May's eyes began to flutter and Peter thought his aunt was losing consciousness again.

"May, I love you." Peter said, feeling like he had to get the sentiment off his chest.

Suddenly, the monitors in her room went off.

May's hand began to spasm around Peter's, her head jerking in a nodding motion, the left side of her face completely going slack as a rattling breath seemed to emanate from her throat.

Peter was frozen in place.

The door to May's room burst open and Bruce came running in, followed by the rest of the medical team.

"I need someone to remove him." Bruce called over his shoulder, gesturing toward Peter.

"No!" Peter screamed, gripping May's hand tighter as someone approached him.

He knew he should move, should give them the room to help his aunt, but her couldn't even breathe. Peter felt arms wrapping around his torso and he was quickly pulled out of his seat. May's hand slipped out of his and Peter couldn't even find the strength to fight them anymore.

Before he knew it, Peter was placed in the hallway and May's door was being shut in his face. Gasping, Peter stepped backwards until his back hit the wall, his leg protesting every step he took. He slid down the wall, his face soaked with tears and hyperventilating. Distantly, Peter realized that Clint and Steve were both running down the hall towards him.

Then everything went dark.

* * *

Peter's hearing was the first thing that came back to him. He could hear somebody breathing next to him, most likely siting vigil by his bedside, and Rhodey out in the hallway.

"No Tones, he hasn't woken up… yeah, the doctor said she threw a blood clot…. had a major stroke right in front of… she didn't make it…"

_She didn't make it_.

Peter felt his heart drop into his stomach at those words.

_She didn't make it_.

"Peter?"

Peter realized that he had been holding his breath when he heard Rhodey's words and whoever was in the room with him had noticed that he was no longer asleep.

Slowly, Peter opened his eyes.

The first thing he noticed was that he was in his own bedroom, not some bed down in the medbay.

The second was that Clint was sitting by his bed, Thor standing near the door, and Steve by his window. Peter made eye contact with Thor who, in turn, opened the door and stuck his head out into the hallway.

Quickly Rhodey came into the room, phone pressed to his ear.

"He's awake… yeah, hold on." Rhodey said, pulling his phone back and putting it on speaker, "He can hear you now."

"Peter, kiddo, listen. I'm on my way back right now. I'm in the suit. I'm about two hours out right now, okay? Pepper and Morgan are boarding the jet as we speak. They'll be at the tower tomorrow morning. Peter… I'm so sorry kiddo. I'm so sorry. I wish I was there with you right now but I'll be there so soon. Rhodey said everybody is taking really good care of you and if they aren't then they'll have to deal with me." Tony rambled.

_Tony's been taking really good care of me. Everybody has been looking out for me._

Peter felt his stomach twist.

"Peter?" Tony asked after no response.

Peter squeezed his eyes shut and burrowed underneath his blankets. He knew he was being childish, but he didn't know what to say. What to do.

_She didn't make it_.

"Yeah Tones… I'll let him know…" Rhodey said, having taken the phone off speaker.

A hand snaked across his pillow and began to play with the bits of Peter's hair that was sticking out from underneath the blanket. It was such a paternal action that it could only have been Clint's hand and Peter tried to focus all his attention on it, rather than the fact that he was now truly an orphan in every sense of the word.

_She didn't make it_.

* * *

Peter stayed underneath his blanket for two hours and seventeen minutes. Steve and Rhodey both tried coaxing him out with mentions of food and video games before Clint told them to back off and give him some space. Thor also left with them but Peter could still hear his heartbeat right outside the door, as if her were standing watch.

Clint stayed, though.

He continued to play with his hair, trying to comfort him in any way he could. Sometimes Clint would tell Peter where Tony was, having asked Friday to send updates to his phone. Clint never tried to get Peter to talk and for that he was grateful. At some point, Peter's phone started ringing and Clint told him it was Michelle. Peter didn't know what he would say to her if he picked up so Clint let his phone ring and then texted MJ that Peter would get back to her soon.

Not long after that, Peter heard the telltale signs of the Iron Man suit landing on the pad a couple floors down from the penthouse level. A few minutes later Peter's bedroom door was opening and Tony was heading for his bed. Clint's hand left his hair and was soon replaced with Tony's.

"Hey kiddo." Tony whispered, sitting down into the chair Clint had been in.

Peter slowly pulled his head out from underneath his blanket and looked up at Tony.

His room was a lot darker than it had been when he had first woken up and everybody else had left. Tony was leaning over him, fingers working out the knots in his hair.

"There's that handsome face," Tony muttered, reaching his other hand out and cupping Peter's cheek.

Peter almost flinched as the cold metal hand came in contact with his skin.

"Is May really dead?" Peter asked, his voice hoarse.

Tony froze in his ministrations, his face morphing into a sadness that Peter had seen so many times before. It was the same sadness that May and Ben had on their faces when they told him that his parents weren't coming home. It was the same sadness the nurse had when she told him that Ben had died from his gunshot wound. It was the same sadness Peter himself had worn when he told May that her husband had died.

"Yeah Pete, she is. I am so, so sorry." Tony said, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to Peter's forehead.

Peter closed his eyes and tried to hold back the tears that so desperately wanted to be released. Tony leaned forward and drew Peter into his arms, Peter's face fitting perfectly into the crook of his neck.

He couldn't hold back the tears, sobs choking him, chest heaving. Tony cradled the back of Peter's head and wrapped an arm around his back. He kept up a mantra of, what Tony hoped were, comforting words as he rocked the distraught teen.

Gradually, Peter calmed down and his body went completely limp in Tony's hold.

"I don't know what to do." Peter whispered.

Tony gently squeezed Peter before pulling back to look him in the eye.

"Right now you should take a nice, hot shower. Then, when you get out I will have the comfiest sweats laid out for you to wear. Rhodey and Steve have been busy cooking, what appears to be, my entire kitchen so there will be plenty to eat. That's all you have to do right now. Clean up and eat. Just focus on those two things and we'll move on from there. Okay?" Tony said, pushing the hair out of Peter's face.

Peter nodded, not looking Tony in the eye. Tony chose not to bring it up.

"Bruce left some crutches for you to use. He thinks we can push the surgery back another day but no more than that." Tony explained, extricating himself from Peter to grab the crutches.

Peter didn't say anything as he took the crutches from him. Tony pulled Peter's blankets back and Peter swung his legs over the side of his bed. He leaned heavily on the crutches as he moved toward his bathroom and Tony began to rifle through Peter's chest of drawers.

Peter shut the door softly behind him as he entered the bathroom and leaned his crutches against the wall. He hobbled over to the shower and turned the knob, letting the hot water burst out and begin to steam up the room. Peter turned and gripped the edge of the sink, breathing deeply. He was trying to clear his mind, trying to take control over the situation.

He glanced up at the mirror and sighed. His eyes were swollen and his cheeks were red, tear tracks staining his face. His bottom lip was bleeding from where he had been biting it while underneath the blanket. Peter continued to stare at his reflection until Tony knocked on the door.

"I laid some clothes out for you kiddo. I'll be in the kitchen so just have Friday get me when you're done." He called through the closed door.

Peter pushed away from the sink and began to strip his clothes off. He waited until he couldn't hear Tony's heartbeat right outside the door anymore before getting underneath the hot spray of water.

There was a childish part of Peter that hoped if he got the water hot enough, it would melt him down into a puddle and he could slip down the drain. He could slither away down the cold and lonely pipes until he ended up at the ocean where he would become nothing more than a drop in the massive sea of water. No responsibilities. Nobody to mourn.

But Peter had dealt with this before. He had mourned the deaths of his parents and his Uncle Ben and he would mourn the death of May and he would come out on the other side. He would survive.

He always did.

* * *

**A/N: **I've been thinking about what I want to do with this piece and I've come to the conclusion that this particular story will have just a few more chapters added to it. I'm going to place this story into a collection and I will continue to write in this world. I'll probably do some more chaptered fics but will intersperse them with stories ranging from oneshots to three-chapter fics.

Let me know what y'all think about that!


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